Dracula Is Cursing The Japanese Wii U Virtual Console Next Week In Castlevania III

Castlevania fans will be pleased to know that NES classic Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse — one of the best entries in the entire lineage — is hitting the Japanese Wii U Virtual Console next week, which means a western release shouldn't be far behind.

Originally released in Japan in 1989 — the North American launch would follow a year later, with Europe getting the game in 1992 — Dracula's Curse reverted back to the platforming action of the original title after Konami experimented with a free-roaming approach in Simon's Quest. However, there are plenty of improvements to speak of; the game has a branching level structure and multiple playable characters, including fan favourite Alucard, who makes his series debut in this game.

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Damien has over a decade of professional writing experience under his belt, as well as a repulsively hairy belly. Rumours that he turned down a role in The Hobbit to work on Nintendo Life are, to the best of our knowledge, completely and utterly unfounded.

I'm still waiting for castlevania 2 on wii u here in the uk. This is my all time favourite series and am hoping all NES, PC engine, SNES, N64, GBA and DS iterations are released so I can have them all in one place, would be nice to get SotN too, but can never see that happening.

This game...Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse...is one of the greatest games of the 8-bit era. While it can be unmerciful in it's difficulty, it does offer multiple paths and combinations of powers and abilities via the spirit companions and selectable routes of travel.

If you like action games, and you have never tried this, do yourself a favor and grab it! I would rank this game directly alongside Super Mario Bros. 3, Megaman 2, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Contra, and Final Fantasy in contention for greatest 8-bit era game.

@Action51 It really is that good! I hope it comes to the US. I haven't played it in around 15 years. I remember begging my NES not to freeze up during the game. I forgot many details but the character that climbs on the walls was my favorite.

This is already on the VC i fricking do not care about these re-re-releases, when i see these being released once again and Nintendo thinks i will buy old shyt again just BOILS my blood. These games should be FREE for the ones who PAID FOR THEM ALREADY ON WII. Not a discount either, free.

This has to be the worst machine this company has built, it just has to be, the gamecube was better the first year than the WiiU is. Oh and Nice job turning off the regular wii's online component too that was a smart move and one that made me lose 50% of my respect for you. You realize i have more fun with my ouya

@unrandomsamExtremely unlikely. They'd rather release an English version when available.(and they'd have to reprogram the game to put English text in the Japanese game, because the Japanese and western carts used different hardware)

Are these the first PC Engine games to come to the Japanese Wii U VC? This is a good sign that they might come to the west again, hopefully with better emulation this time. The first few TG16 games on the Wii VC had a really bad filter on them.